Starlight
by MissMuffin42
Summary: It's months since Danny, Lauren, BB, Claudine, Lola and Jez left Britannia High. When the gang meet up at Jez's Dad's house for Christmas and they're all reunited, nothing is quite the same. Danny/Lauren Danny/Claudine Danny/OC BB/Claudine Lola/Stefan
1. Chapter 1

**One. Lauren**

Sir Jack Tyler's huge mansion looked even more menacing when it was covered all over in shiny, white snow. I got out of the taxi and stayed on the massive driveway for a moment, taking in my surroundings. I stood between the two tall, iron gates and I could almost see a ghost version of myself, a year and three months ago now, stood in the very same spot with BB, Claudine, Lola, Ronnie and Danny. So much had changed since then. The thing was it hadn't, really.

Behind me the cab's engine moaned as it reversed from the driveway and drove out. It was almost two miles until it would reach an actual street.

"Hey," said BB, nudging me playfully. "You so owe me £10."

"I'll pay you back." I promised.

We began walking towards the house.

"Do you want me to take that suitcase?"

As I'd feared, BB could see I was struggling. Since I'd been diagnosed with neuralgia, everyone had been really helpful. Sometimes it was incredibly annoying, though, needing help with almost everything I did.

I let him take the bag I'd packed for the week, which involved enough clothes to last me, give or take a few outfits I'd have to wear twice, my sad excuse for a make-up bag, which would probably make Lola cry, a wash bag and a towel, just in case.

BB knocked on the door, within seconds, someone that must have been a maid answered the door. She could hardly begin speaking before Jez himself came bounding down the hallway, wearing a pear of skinny jeans, a yellow checked shirt and a black tie.

"Hey, Jez, man!" said BB, stepping forward and drawing him into a hug. The poor maid was shoved out of the way.

Jez laughed and waved at me from behind BB's shoulder. I waved back, and smiled. As they parted, Jez took mine and BB's luggage, BB's bag was as equally small as mine, if not smaller.

"I'll show you to your rooms. How are you both?"

"Good, yeah." I replied, following Jez down the corridor.

"Great, how're you?" said BB.

"Fine. You know, bored. Christmas is going to be great. You know Lola and Stefan are coming?"

"Yeah!" said BB, as I said "No!"

I trailed behind slightly, as the boys strode up the stairs. Jez stopped and waited for me, and BB realised then did the same.

"Sorry Lauren," Jez said. "Yeah, when I called to invite them, you know, just to be polite and everything but I wasn't sure they were going to actually _come_."

"I know, it's mental," added BB, as the three of us set off, them supporting my back, up the stairs at a steady pace.

Jez led us down a long corridor. About four doors down, he indicated to a room with a pretty door. "This is yours, Lauren," he said. I followed him into the room as he placed my suitcase right next to the huge wardrobe which was partly made of glass. "Do you want twenty minutes to settle in and then we can all meet downstairs?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Great. Come on, BB."

The room was the size of my room at Mrs Troy's house and my room at home in New Forest plus some extra space. Two of the walls were white; the other two were the same colour as the duvet cover, a warm and comforting shade of reddish-purple. The satin curtains were the same colour, except slightly see through. I relaxed onto the bed. I knew already from phone calls with Jez that Claudine was coming later today and Danny the next day. Claudine I wasn't nervous about, well, not as much. The last time we'd seen each other had been a shopping trip in London, back in October. We spoke on the phone regularly as well.

But Danny… well, the last time I'd seen him had been that painful end of year show, when he'd told me he loved me and I rejected him. I've often thought that was a stupid mistake but overall, I think the whole break up with Danny made me a much stronger, less naïve person. And anyway, Claudine was one of my best friends. Being without Danny was sort of what united us. If anything happened between Danny and me, that would just be betraying Claudine, wouldn't it?

I sighed, getting up and unpacking my things, trying to distract myself from thinking about Danny. So, Lola was coming! I hadn't seen her since the end of year showcase either, when she'd left for Australia but about a week later the post cards started coming, written in delicate, cerise lettering about her adventures with Stefan, the other side of the world. I missed Lola, actually. Really missed her, it seemed so much quieter without her bubbly chatter. Plus the boys would have someone to make fun of now.

I checked the time of the quartz alarm clock on the end table next to the bed, and I still had ten minutes to go, and I'd placed all my clothes in the wardrobe in less than five minutes, put my toothbrush and make up in the en-suite and stacked the romance novel my mother had lent me and a copy of _Heat_ magazine I'd bought on the way and flicked through so I'd be able to talk to Claudine, Ronnie, and now Lola. I laughed at myself. How sad was I?

I felt an urge of pain in my leg, suddenly, and went to lie down. Then there was a knock at the door of my room.

"Come in," I sat up slightly on the bed.

It was BB.

"Hi," I said.

"What's up?" He strode into the room and sat on the side of the bed. "You coming downstairs?"

I nodded. "Sure. Jez said twenty past…"

"Whatever, it's in five minutes." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I laughed and went after him as he released my hand and headed down the corridor. We were half way down the stairs when the doorbell rang. Instantly, the maid for before, Jez and his father, Sir Jack Tyler all appeared in the main hallway to answer the door. BB and I stopped in our tracks as the door was opened and a grinning Ronnie came in.

"Hey, Ronnie!" said Jez.

"Hiya," she said, still smiling like the Cheshire cat. She looked like she was straining to keep herself from kissing Jez. Actually, I had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing.

"Ronnie this is my Dad, Dad… Ronnie," said Jez, indicating.

"Hiya!" said Ronnie. Sir Jack waved politely.

"And Lauren and BB are…"

BB came rushing down the stairs. "Hi Ronnie, babes!"

"… Upstairs," said Jez, laughter on her lips. I followed BB down to the hall, and returned Ronnie's wave. "Oh yeah, Dad, BB and Lauren got here ages ago."

"Hi," Jack said, surveying us.

"Hello," I said, shyly. BB lifted a hand. There was silence for a while.

"Well, Dad, I'm gonna give them all a tour of the house, yeah?" asked Jez.

"Sure… I've got some work to do anyway, so I guess I'll see you all at dinner," replied his father.

"Great," said Jez, and we all followed him down the main hallway, which was lit up by a tall golden lamp.

***

By the time it was six, we'd all had dinner and were sat in the main living room, watching the huge flat screen TV and drinking coffee which was obviously a lot more expensive than the Kenco we would've had at my parents. Then the doorbell went, and Jez immediately called, "I'll get it!"

I went with him to the door. After the first ring there were several more and then a few knocks. We opened the door.

"OMG, Lauren!!!!"

I was taken aback my hugs and squeals. Behind Lola's shoulder, I caught a glimpse of a smiling Stefan who was stood back from the door slightly.

"Hi! Come in!" Jez laughed, as Lola released me and moved onto Jez. Stefan came through the door, carrying with him a khaki suitcase and two larger pink ones.

"OMG, I missed you all so much…"  
Everyone followed Jez down the hall as Lola chattered happily in the background. I noticed the way Stefan smiled when he was watching her. It was pretty adorable, actually.

The four of us headed to the living room. As soon as we were inside, Lola burst into a fresh series of squeals when she saw BB and Ronnie, who jumped up from the long, leather sofa to hug her. Jez turned to Stefan, who was stood there holding the bags and looking awkward. I realised it must be weird for him, suddenly being brought into a house of strangers.

"Stefan, if you want I'll show you to your room…" said Jez.

"Yeah, sure." Stefan followed Jez out of the living room leaving me, Ronnie, BB and Lola.

The doorbell went. I heard someone, presumably the maid from earlier as Sir Jack was in his office and Jez was upstairs with Stefan, go to answer it.

Straight away I heard not her voice, but the way her heels clicked against the polished, wooden floor, as she came in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two. BB.**

We all knew it was Claudine straight away, at the door, it had to be. Jez's dad's maid, or whatever, answered it and Lola got up and ran out of the room straight away. I followed her, aiming for a more casual pace.

"Claudine!"

"Lola!"

As I came into the huge entrance hall, the two girls were hugging. As they let go of each other and Lola started talking, I could see how much Claudine had changed. _Had_ she changed? I didn't see anything with her general appearance, her hair was cut the same, she hadn't lost or gained any weight, had she? She was wearing a short, furry jacket, but as she slipped it off underneath she was wearing an above-knee length black dress, tights that were almost see through and a short cardigan, which was the same shade of scarlet as her lipstick, as were her heels. What was happening? She seemed so… different. Hey, I wasn't crushing on Claudine here, was I? This just couldn't be happening. This was Claudine, _Claudine_, we were talking about. She's been my bitchy best mate for the last year. Nothing was going to happen, right?

"Hey," she said as she saw me saunter over to her and Lola.

"Hiya, babe. How've you been?" I tried to keep my tone of voice casual.

"Great, yeah."

She pressed me into a hug. Her hands felt cold around my shoulders, her body was right up against mine now. I released her.

"Cool."

Luckily, Jez came down the stairs now, with Stefan. Lola smiled up at him as Jez came down after him and hugged Claudine, talking to her with "How are you?" s and meaningless bits of random. Lola and Stefan headed down the hall together, talking quietly. I decided to go upstairs to my room for while. I headed up a staircase, then realised it was the wrong one and backed down. I managed to find my way to the hallway which my room was on, right round the corner from Lauren's. Next door, Jez was stood in the doorway talking to Claudine, who was holding her furry jacket, a suitcase and a large Jane Norman bag. So, Claudine was going to be in the room next to mine? Great, so I'd started having feelings for her now and we were going to be sleeping just walls away from each other!

_No_, that was _wrong_. I was _not_ having feelings for Claudine, yeah? It was just a _thing_. I mean, she's always been fit. I remembered I'd thought so on my first day at Britannia High, it was just getting to know her and her mean side had made me forget all about that. But she was, though. Even Julius had thought so.

Julius.

I missed him so much, every day. I thought about what he would've done if this was happening to him.

_He would've hidden his feelings even though it hurt him, so not to risk their beautiful friendship or betray Danny._

Yeah, right. He'd have her waking up next to him tomorrow morning.

But that wasn't the point, was it? It wasn't about Julius, it was about me and Claudine and now. And it was sort of about Danny as well.

But then again, what did it matter to him? I mean, he'd had his chance with Claudine and he blew it, didn't he? All that really mattered was that we were here and she was single, next door and bloody gorgeous.

Maybe I shouldn't have been thinking about it this much. Maybe I should go for it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three. Lauren.**

Dinner at the Tyler household was very different to the way we ate dinner at home, or at Mrs. Troy's when I'd been at Britannia High. We all sat around a long, glass table, where there was a seat for us all along with two more. "Us all" was me, Jez, BB, Claudine, Ronnie, Lola, Stefan and Jez's dad, who'd appeared a few minutes earlier, telling us all that the cook had dinner on the table. Yes, the cook!

It wasn't like in _Titanic_ or _Pretty Woman_ with hundreds of forks, but it did feel unnaturally formal and I, especially due to the fact I was sat between Claudine, in a pair of leggings and pink dress-top, and Lola, who looked stunning in a lime green number with a plasticy purple necklace and a pair of footless tights the same colour, felt under-dressed.

The food, smoked salmon with salad, made me wonder what Christmas dinner here was going to be like. There wasn't one particular conversation going on; Lola and Stefan had been telling Jez about Australia, Sir Jack was asking BB about his DJ-ing and I'd been talking mindlessly to Ronnie about her hair and make-up course, while eating salmon and trying to take in just how gigantic the house was.

At half nine, when we'd eaten we all gathered in the living room, with the exception of Sir Jack who's sauntered upstairs to "finish some things off before bed" with two boxes of expensive chocolates and a bottle of wine between us. It was great catching up with everyone again.

I found out that Claudine had got herself a record deal and her album, yes, _album_, was going to be released in March. It was incredibly hard not to envy her, I'd still not landed the recording contract I'd been hoping for yet I'd been thinking about contacting a record producer for some time now.

BB, as I already knew, was DJ-ing around London and had moved into a new apartment, which I'd been in and was absolutely fabulous.

Lola had been in a series of dance videos, and she and Stefan were renting a flat in Sydney though they were planning to spend a year in England. It was hard not to smile just watching Lola, and Stefan, and seeing how happy they were together. At first it was sort of weird, seeing one of my best friends in the arms of my ex-dance teacher, but once you got used to it, it was really lovely.

Jez, as I had, was starring in West End productions. He was also planning on moving away from his dad's, once he had enough of his own money. Jez was still single, but didn't seem too bothered by it to be honest.

We watched a film which I was too busy thinking about Danny to follow the plot of, and then slowly first Ronnie, then Claudine retired upstairs. I followed, and went to my own room.

Once in there I threw myself onto the huge bed, the feather duvet made a rustling noise as I landed on it. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Tomorrow Danny was coming. What was I going to do? I couldn't just tell Danny I was in love with him, could I? After all I'd put him through, that was just unfair. And anyway, he was in movies now, in America. He probably had some other girlfriend or something, right? I was stupid to even think he'd _remember_ everything that happened with him, me and Claudine. Would he?

I changed into my embarrassing pyjamas my mum had given me for my last birthday. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, then Stefan say something and Lola giggle. My phone, next to my bed, bleeped. I picked it up, expecting another message from Mum. Not one from Danny, who I hadn't heard from in months.

_Hey. R u at Jez's? If so, can't wait to see u tomoz. D._

I lay in bed, my mind for once not trying to cover up my thoughts by thinking about work or Mum or my friends but simply of Danny, Danny, Danny.


	4. Chapter 4

**Four. Claudine.**

I dreamt I was flying. I was speeding through the air, cold wind blew in my face but I didn't care. The only thing that mattered was that I wasn't going high enough… my feet and the train of the dress I was wearing were trailing against the floor. I had to go _up_. I summoned all my strength into my arms, pushing, _pushing_ against the space behind me. I turned my head upwards; my toes could still feel earth underneath them. I had to push harder, be stronger…

Two loud bangs awakened me. I snapped my eyes open, wondering if I should tell my therapist, Suzy about the dream. Probably not, I'd just make up something again.

There they were: the two bangs again. And then I realised that they were bangs against the door, my door, and someone was knocking on it.

"Come in?" I said, but not before combing through my hair with my fingers and straightening out my silky pyjamas.

It was Lauren. She was fully dressed, in a pair of jeans, heeled boots, fluffy white scarf and gloves and a long, suede coloured coat.

"Oh," she said, looking at me.

"Oh?" I replied.

"It's just… well, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk outside."

I laughed. "I'd love to, babe. I'll be about…" I thought about clothes and make-up and showers. "Fifteen minutes?"

"Erm…" Lauren seemed to think for a minute. "Yeah, great. I just need to talk. I'll be in my room… I'll see you there?"

I nodded and Lauren left.

I showered quickly and stood in the bathroom attatched to my room, a little smaller than the one in the hotel I was staying in at the moment, looking in the mirror. I stared at the face that would be printed on the face of millions of copies of a debut album; the body that would be dressed in Gucci and photographed all over the country. I walked out of the bathroom, placing my dressing gown on and hummed to myself. The voice that would generate millions of pounds.

I dressed quickly in a pair of designer jeans, a strapless top and chose between three coats, finally deciding on the half-length furry one I'd worn yesterday that was more fashionable but less warm, then painted on foundation, eyeliner, and layers of lip gloss and several coats of mascara. I ran a brush through my hair and grabbed my handbag, just in case anyone called me.

Lauren's room was around the corner, right hand side of the corridor, three doors from the stairs. I knocked once, and then walked in anyway. She jumped up as soon as I came in, and threw what appeared to be her phone in her pocket.

"Hey, babes," she said. She got up and we began walking down the stairs, in silence.

We got outside, and I followed Lauren's lead left from the driveway, not quite sure if she knew where we were going. There were two sets of footsteps in the snow across the driveway, going the opposite way to us.

"So, you wanted to talk?" I said, slightly curious.

We went through a gate, into a large garden behind the house. I imagined there would have been flowers, lots of flowers, there if they weren't covered away by the snow.

"Ok, Claudine, I'm just going to spit this out, ok?"

I nodded. Clearly Lauren was working up for something big. Oh God, she wasn't dying _again_, was she? Pregnant? Secretly… working for the government? I gave up trying to think of whatever it was Lauren was going to tell me and looked at her, just looked at her.

She still didn't say anything.

"I thought you were just going to spit…"

"I'm falling in love with Danny!"

I stopped.

Lauren. Was in love. With Danny. This was _unbelievable_. So much for, "I want to live my life to the full and not be tied down!"

"Oh, God. I was joking… I don't love Danny…"

I snorted. "Weird kind of joke."

Lauren sighed.

"So what are you gonna do?"

She looked over at me. "What d'you mean?"

"Well, you just said you're in love with Danny. I mean, are you going to tell him, or…?"

She sighed, again. "I really don't know, Claudine. I wasn't going to, but… well, before summer he said he wanted _me_, and I just can't get the idea out of my head."

I looked right into her eyes. "Lauren, listen to me. You _can't_ go out with Danny, you just can't. Remember what he did to you?"

_Did to us,_ I mentally corrected.

"I know." I watched Lauren's eyes, followed them past the iced-over stream, past the trees, over the wall and into nothingness. There was hurt in them, and confusion.

I suddenly flung my arms around her, before I could stop myself. She returned my hug and we stood there, like idiots. I finally let go before I cried or something.

"You wanna go inside now, yeah?"

Lauren nodded. She actually _was_ crying.

We headed back to the house, neither of us able to speak. It was half past ten. I wasn't stupid enough to say anything about Danny arriving later.

When we got back, I noticed the footsteps I'd seen before had come back to the house, disappearing at the three stone steps that headed up to the front door. We got to the front door and knocked. Jez answered.

"Hey! Where've you guys been?"

"We just went for a walk round," said Lauren.

"I thought so, Lola and Stefan just got back. Come in, you must be cold."

"Freezing," I said. We took our coats off and followed Jez through a series of doors. We went into the main kitchen, where Lola, Stefan and Ronnie were sat at the counter, all with bagels.

"More bagels in the toaster," said Jez, gesturing to the counter by the fridge.

Lauren went over to the counter and sat down on one of the stools. I heard Jez say something about BB being upstairs. Everyone easily fluttered into conversation, and I shrugged my coat off.

And then, in about five seconds, three things happened.

Lauren turned round, looking worried. The bagels popped up. The doorbell rang.


	5. Chapter 5

**Five. Lauren.**

Claudine must have seen whatever sort of expression I'd let myself display. Either that or it was just plainly obvious that I was always going to feel like this. Probably the latter.

Jez got up to answer the door. Nobody followed him except Ronnie, who seemed to follow Jez everywhere.

Why did I have a really, really horrible feeling inside? Claudine and I had talked about this, we agreed I couldn't really be in love with him, it was just a thing. I wanted so badly to feel now like I had on the night of the end of the year show. I wanted so badly to feel strong and independent and like I didn't need anyone else but me.

I could feel Claudine's eyes on me. Stefan, too, was glancing at me every so often. Was it so plainly obvious that I was in love with Danny? I was sure he knew what happened; he definitely noticed the first time Danny and I split up. It was the way he seemed to always be less hard on me in lessons back then, even though we both knew I hadn't exactly been the most talented member of the class. It was only Lola that didn't do anything, just carried on happily chattering away to Stefan. She really was an easy person to be around.

I heard Jez open the door. I heard voices… Jez's voice. Wait, there it was. _His_ voice. He was talking to Jez, and he was laughing. Ronnie was talking now. Lola got up from her seat, placing her half eaten bagel back on the plate.

"I'm gonna go see Danny!" she trilled.

She skipped out of the room, and Claudine slowly got up to follow.

"Is it ok?" she mouthed silently, her back to Stefan. I nodded, as discreetly as I could and let Claudine go. I just couldn't bring myself to face Danny yet.

It was kind of awkward being left with Stefan. He was smart; he probably knew what was going on. It's strange like that, when you've heard so much about someone and hardly spoken to them. It sort of worked the other way round, as well. I knew and I'd heard so much about what had happened between him and Lola but we'd never really spoken, not properly, outside the dance studio.

I decided it was time to go see Danny.  
Time to face the music.


	6. Chapter 6

**Six. Jez.**

Lauren's face when she came through to the entrance hall made _me_ want to cry. When she saw Danny, it was like her eyes lit up. It was heartbreaking. Literally. Well, not literally because literally means…

Meh, whatever.

Everyone watched as the two of them hugged. Well, everyone except Lola who'd finished her little frenzy of squealing and had gone off, presumably, to find Stefan.

And then, to my surprise, a randomer came through the front door, holding a suitcase. She was almost six foot tall with long, brown hair. Her clothes, not that I would know, were probably designer and she had hugely made-up, catlike eyes.

"Everyone, this is Jade, my…"

_Oh, no, Danny. Don't do this. Don't do this to Lauren._

"… girlfriend."

_There we go._

"Jade, these are my friends, Jez, Lauren, Claudine and Ronnie."

There was an exchange of "hi" s. She spoke with an American accent.

"Jez, I hope this is ok, it's just I only invited Jade last minute, and…"

"Yeah, it's fine, we have tons of extra rooms," I said, trying to keep my tone light. It really wasn't, didn't he know that? Couldn't he _see_ what he was doing to Lauren?

We all headed to the kitchen.


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven. Claudine.**

What was he _thinking_, bringing that slut here? Seriously. I'd only just met her and I already despised her. Stupid, American, bitchy, tall, evil, panda eyed slut. And what about _him_, how could he do that to Lauren? I mean, he didn't exactly know she loved him but still. To tell her he loved her and then come back six months later with some slag that didn't have any idea how to apply make-up.

I glanced around the room at my friends. Ronnie was talking to _her_, the traitor, Danny, Lola and Stefan had gone off somewhere and Lauren was in the corner of the room looking slightly lost. I really wanted to run over there and hug her, to tell her everything was going to be alright and that I'd sort it all out for her.

Well, in this room full of people I couldn't do any of that stuff. But there was something I _could _do. I could make sure that Danny split up with _her_, and that she would piss off back to America and none of us would ever have to see her face again. _Ever_.

I had to work with my advantages, here. I _did_ have some form of plan already in my head. Lauren wouldn't like it. But then again, I didn't actually have to tell her, did I? It would be so fabulous.

Danny would realise how rubbish Jade was for him, Lauren would see he was a traitor and not want to be with him and then Lauren would be happy and Danny would be… well, average.

Look, this was just something that was going to upset a few people along the line. It was way better for Danny, though, in the long fun. And no I _wasn't_ turning all evil and bitchy again. This was for Lauren so she didn't get upset. She could think of it as a sort of Christmas present. From me to her. Love and kisses.


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight. Lola.**

It was so nice to be back in England. We were all, like, together again. And it was totally fantabulous to be able to show Stefan off to everybody!

The one thing that upset me was how much I missed my mum. Because, like, normally because we were in England we would've gone to visit her, and my sister, but a few months ago we'd had this totally huge argument. It was, like, a week after I'd moved to Australia and I decided to call her and, like, tell her and stuff. And when I told her I was living with Stefan and who he was she was, like, totally mad. Why can't she understand? I mean, like, so what if he's a little older than me. We love each other and we were going to live together, I mean, like, it isn't even her business and stuff that much anyway. Why should it matter if somebody is, like, someone else's dance teacher, or older than them, or whatever?

What upset me more, though, was that I'd had to lie to Stefan. Because, like, I never told him about that phone call and when Jez invited us over for Christmas, he asked if there was any family or anything I wanted to visit, and I told him my mum was on holiday. Which was kind of true, I mean, like, she _could_ have been on holiday. I would've kind of liked to go see my Nan, though, who I hadn't seen since, like, forever. But I wasn't sure if Mum would be over there, for, like, Christmas and that would have been, like, totally complicated if me and Stefan were there at the same time as her.

I really, really, really missed my Nan, and my family. But Mum had made me choose between them and Stefan, and I chose Stefan, because, like, I loved him and he wasn't upsetting me by forcing me to choose and stuff.

Why is life so complicated?


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine. Jez.**

Having everyone at my house felt really, really great. Unlike the last time they'd all been here, I could actually feel proud of it. It didn't feel like I should be ashamed of having money. It felt special, like we were at my house and everyone had come here because I invited them and I'd made everyone see each other again and we were all really happy because of _me_. That sounded really snobby, didn't it? It wasn't supposed to sound like that, just… I don't know.

When BB finally came downstairs, after just waking up, the rest of us had all had lunch and were outside having a snowball fight like the kids we all really were, still. All of us, that was, with the exception of Jade, Danny's new girlfriend, who hadn't wanted to get cold.

It was unbelievably hard having to pretend to like her. I mean, usually, I think I'm pretty good at hiding my feelings and being diplomatic and everything, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job of it today, compared to Claudine anyway, who was shooting evil glances at her every two minutes. But she was just so incredibly annoying. And Danny was being a bit of a jerk, wasn't he, after admitting his love for Lauren and then Claudine less than months ago he'd just brought someone else along to meet them who, I found out, he hadn't even been seeing for two weeks yet anyway.

But yeah, BB came downstairs and then we all threw snow at each other for a while and then went inside. Everyone sat round the fireplace and warmed up, while discussing a possible cinema trip on Boxing Day, or the day after. Lola, of course, was hyperventilating because it was almost Christmas.

Actually, I was rather excited as well. It was a pretty long time since I'd been really excited about Christmas, the last seven years I'd spent it alone with Dad. But this year I was really excited, seriously. I'd spent ages in Harrods choosing Christmas presents for everyone, individually. This made me remember that I hadn't got Stefan anything. I mean, wasn't sure if he'd be expecting me to or anything. Would he be? I'd probably get something from him _and_ Lola. Damn, easy advantage for getting Christmas presents for people you didn't know very well. It didn't matter about Jade, it was Danny's fault for not giving us any warning and I'd done enough to try and make her feel welcome, anyway.

It was four o clock, and we were all sat around in the lounge, just chatting. It was unbelievable how much time we'd spent catching up, but it was really fun to get to know each other again. As Lola launched into _another_ real life fairytale about her sun-filled life in Australia, BB approached me.

"Jez… can we talk?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sure."

He led me out of the room, and through the maze of corridors I knew so well, up the stairs to his room.

Already, it was so much messier than it had been this time yesterday. Two t-shirts and a pair of jeans were strewn across the floor, along with a toothbrush and paste. His phone and a bottle of cologne sat proudly on the end table next to his bed.

BB sat down on the edge of his bed. It seemed like we were going to be a pretty long time, so I sat on the bed as well.

"You wanted to tell me something?" I prompted.

"Right, yeah. I think…" He stopped in his tracks and looked at the floor. I looked at him. Still, he didn't say anything.

"You think…?"

"I think," he suddenly looked up and right at me. "I think I'm having feelings for Claudine. And I think she feels the same way."

I almost had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing. _BB_ thought that _Claudine_ was having feelings for him. That was just so not going to happen. I tried to think of something to say, something supportive without deluding him to much. And without making myself laugh.

_Breathe deep, Jez. Breathe deep._

Great. Now I was talking to myself in my head with my explaining-something-to-Lola-voice.

"Are… are you sure?"

"I think so. I mean, she just seemed really, really different now and now that I'm looking, she seems to keep sending me these flirty looks. I mean, just try watching her tonight, yeah?"

"Right. But, let's get this straight. _You're_ having feelings for _Claudine_," I said.

I shouldn't have said it out loud. It was getting harder and harder to not just start laughing.

"Yeah. I mean, when we started school and before I knew she was so evil and all that I'd thought she was sort of hot… but now? I don't know, it's weird, I know. She's changed _loads_ though. I just can't decide if I'm gonna do anything about it, you know? What d'you think?"

I sighed. "I think…"

_I think your sort of being ridiculous and it's all inside your head._

"… I don't know. Maybe you should wait for a while and, you know, make sure she feels the same way."

There, that was a nice way of telling him it was never going to happen. Well, it didn't do exactly that but it put him off for a while, didn't it? How was I going to tell him, ever, that Claudine did _not_ want him?

Although, at dinner, she _did_ seem to be giving him 'looks' every so often, unless I was just imagining it or something.

For dinner, we ordered a Chinese and ate it around the huge dining room table. Earlier, we'd decided to have a sort of party night type thing. Lola's idea, how could it not be?


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten. Claudine.**

Tonight it was Christmas Eve, and we were having this huge party. Jez had ordered Chinese and we were all meeting downstairs at eight to eat it.

So, naturally, I started getting ready at quarter to seven.

This was going to be my big night. Tonight I could really let my plan kick in, everything depended on tonight for me. I needed to look absolutely fabulous. I had the look planned in my head. I wanted to look… hot. Everything had to be perfect; I wanted to make myself gorgeous. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to wear. I wanted to look sexy, but at the same time beautiful, I wanted to be heaven but with a little bit of hell. I'd brought almost my entire wardrobe to Jez's, but I still didn't know what I was going to wear yet. So, with three dresses, a skirt, a pair of leggings and two tops in hand, I headed down the corridor to Lola and Stefan's room.  
Lola didn't answer straight away, but I heard her yell, "Come in!", and Stefan, I assumed, was downstairs with Jez and BB leaving Lola to get ready. She seemed to be having a similar crisis to me, as in clothes, there were two outfits laid out across the bed.

"Can you help me pick what to wear?" she said, sitting down on the bed and allowing herself to bounce slightly.

"Snap." I said.

We went through our options together, discussing jewellery and hair and nails. I forgot how much fun Lola could actually be, once you got past the annoying parts, she really was fun. By quarter to eight, we were both dressed.

I'd chosen a classic little black dress with my name necklace, which could never grow old, some gold bangles and strappy heels, which were also gold. I kept the make-up simple, gold eye shadow with mascara and, of course, red lips.

'Simple' and 'Lola' were just words that didn't work in the same sentence. She wore black also, but teamed it with all yellow accessories, a huge belt, bracelet and beads, with yellow shoes and footless tights. She wore clear lip gloss and lined her eyes with Dazzle Dust.

Lauren turned up, just as me and Lola were finishing off our make-up. Typically Lauren, she was still dressed in her clothes from the snowball fight we'd all had before. However, Lola managed to make her look great in a green skirt, black top and a green shrug, the most party-ish clothes of Lauren's we could find. We straightened her hair and made up her eyes with green eyeliner and heavy mascara.

When we got downstairs, we were only five minutes late in the end, but we didn't beat the Chinese food, which everyone was unwrapping in the kitchen as we came downstairs. As we seated around the table, I chose carefully my seat, opposite Danny, so I could easily glance at him every so often. Jez sat on my left, and then Lola, Stefan, Ronnie, Lauren, BB, Danny and then Jade, who was between the two of us.

"OMG, I can't believe it's Christmas day tomorrow! It's, like, c-h-r-i-s-m-a-s!" Lola sang, though I had no idea why she felt the need to spell it out. I used my fork to pile some noodles onto my plate, thinking I probably shouldn't be eating so much.

"It's c-h-r-i-s-_t_, babe…" Jez started to say, but it was obvious by Lola's expression and the way the words seemed to fade on Jez's tongue showed that he hadn't wanted to burst her bubble.

I remembered what I was supposed to be doing, and then looked down slightly. I let my hair fall over my eyes, and then looked up again. Danny was looking right at me. My little plan was working.

"… and I just can't believe that it's, like, a _day_ to go! And then all the sales start on Boxing Day!"

I smiled at him, but only slightly. At my side, Jade was staring, looking right at me with not what seemed like anger but simple envy, or disappointment. I saw her take Danny's hand across the table.

_Look at that, I must be freaking you out._

Just eating noodles and casting flirty glances over at Danny every so often got sort of boring, so I decided to join in Jez and BB's conversation, which was about their radio show they did together last year. I didn't really contribute much; it was just easy to laugh along when they discussed interviews and guests together. I was pretty sure that they saw me as part of the conversation, every so often one of both of them would look at me.

Danny was talking to Jade again. This called for action. I very subtly brushed my fork off the edge of the table top, pretending to have been reaching for the sweet and sour chicken.

Why, I thought, was I doing this? I must really want Lauren to be happy. This trick was _so_ old.

I stood up and bent down to pick up the fork.


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven. BB.**

I wanted so badly to stand up, point at Jez and yell, "Ha! I was right the whole time, she feels the same!"

But that would've ruined the moment, wouldn't it?

Claudine had been looking over at me the whole night, and that thing where she "accidently" dropped her fork? Was there _any_ way she could have made it more clear?

I'd decided, now, that I was just going to "move in". I mean, why not? Danny shouldn't have a reason to care, I mean, there's the rule about dating your mates' exes but they'd only gone out a few weeks anyway and anyway, he had this American chick now, right? So why should he have a reason to care? It wasn't like it was as bad as it would've been if I started fancying Lauren or something. Actually, she was sort of hot though…

Whatever.

All night I flirted with Claudine, but after dinner she seemed a little less receptive than before. Maybe she was just playing hard to get or something. So, I decided to cool it for a while, at least until tomorrow. Which was Christmas Day.

Instead, I chatted to Jez for a while. I'd really missed Jez when we left BH and me and Ronnie had gone round Europe for a month. We'd sort of kept in touch, and met twice but it wasn't the same as doing the radio show together and hanging out all the time at school. I think that was why I enjoyed staying at his house so much, 'cause not all the conversation we had were some big catch up, we could just talk about anything.  
At about ten, Jade went up to bed and a few minutes later, Ronnie did. Stefan went upstairs to "sort something out", after promising Lola he'd be right downstairs. I wasn't sure if the brightness of her smile was because she knew he was wrapping presents, or just because of _him_.

I realised that it was just _us six_, the way that it always had been back at Britannia High. Looking round the living room, at each of my best friends' faces, I realised how much they meant to me, and how much I missed them all. We hadn't been together like this since, well, July. Almost six months ago, that had been. It felt weird, actually, but in a good way.


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve. Danny.**

It was really cool being at Jez's. Seeing everyone, again, and stuff, it was really great. Actually, I thought it might be a bit awkward, seeing Lauren and Claudine and everything but it wasn't, really. I wondered if I should tell Jade that I'd dated both of them but it probably would've made things more uncomfortable. And nobody wants things to be uncomfortable at Christmas, right? So I decided I'd just keep quiet about it, guessing we'd put everything that happened last year behind us.

On Christmas Eve, we had this big party. The girls got all dressed up and we drank and ate Chinese and ended up in the living room. By the time it was half ten, there were only the six of us left, me, Lauren, Claudine, Jez, Lola and BB.

It was Lola's idea to play Twister.

Actually, it was pretty fun a, you know, as a bit of harmless, slightly drunk, Christmas Eve madness. Lauren spun the wheel, because of her neuralgia, and everyone piled their phones and whatever else they had in their pockets (in Lola's case, a fistful of make-up). We got into countless little arguments about the rules; it was so childish but so much fun.

But there was this one point, and I ended up with 'left arm, yellow'. I leaned forward, to balance, and Claudine's face was right in front of me. And I swear, there was this… heat between us. And, I don't know, it was probably just because I was wearing long sleeves and I'd been playing Twister for the last half hour but it scared the hell out of me.

I almost sighed with relief when Jez's foot came between us, blocking me away from having to look at her face.

In the end, Jez won Twister, who managed to stay up while Lola stumbled and knocked over me, BB, Claudine like dominos, and somehow also nearly broke a vase. By the time Stefan came back downstairs, everyone was tired and Jez persuaded Lola it would make Christmas come quicker if she went to sleep now.

When I got to my room, to my surprise, Jade wasn't in bed. To be honest, I'd been having such a great time with the others downstairs I'd almost forgotten about her. She was up and dressed, changed from the dress she'd had on before into jeans and a t-shirt. Jade was throwing clothes, her clothes, into a suitcase.

"Hey, what's going on?" I said, grabbing her arm.

"I'm leaving, Danny." She jerked her arm away from my grip and headed over to the wardrobe again.

"Leaving? You can't just go, what for?"

She paused, momentarily, and looked right at me. "Danny, it just doesn't feel right here, I don't want to spend Christmas with these strangers. You all seem to know each other really well and you're in this really tight group and it just seems like nobody wants me here."

"That's not true…" I said, although it sort of was. "I want you here."

That wasn't really true, either. I would have preferred it so much more if I hadn't brought Jade, or anyone else, to take on the responsibility of having to spend time with. I just wanted to chill with my friends. Jade made things more… complicated. And I didn't even like her that much; we'd only been going out about two weeks. I didn't have a clue why I'd brought her out here, to England. Just seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess.

Jade was looking at the floor. "Sure you do."

"What?" I backed myself up. "I do!"

"It's just you don't seem that interested anymore! I mean, you're spending all this time with these people and that girl is going past flirting and simply _throwing_ herself at you. It just doesn't make sense, why did you even bring me here anyway?"

_Jade, I have just been asking myself that exact same thing._

But I couldn't tell her that, could I? I didn't want to be some heart breaking jerk, here. I slowly took her hand, and sat down on the bed. She sat down next to me. Ok, good sign.

"Jade, I brought you here because I really like you and I want you to spend Christmas with me." I said.

That was good, wasn't it? Keep it simple, nothing too over the top but still romantic at the same time.

She brought her hand to the side of my face and kissed me, softly.

_Forgiven me, then?_

It looked like we were good, then. That was great; I was out of trouble for a while. Then, when we went back to America I could finish with Jade and find someone else worth spending my time with.

She kissed me again, her arms snaking round my neck.

Wait, had she meant _Claudine_ when she was talking about a girl flirting with me?


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen. Lauren.**

I rinsed my face with cold water and washed off the last of Lola's sparkly eyeliner.

_Danny had a girlfriend_.

I walked through to my bedroom and turned my phone on silent mode, then laid it across the end table.

_Danny had a girlfriend._

I turned out the lamp next to my bed…

_Danny had a girlfriend._

… And got under the covers. I threw the duvet over my head.

_Danny had a girlfriend._

I said the sentence again and again in my head, as I had been doing all day. Still, it hadn't _quite _settled in. Why was this so hard? You'd think I'd be used to it after a whole afternoon and evening of seeing them, together. But inside, it was worse than when Danny started going out with Claudine.

Why was that? Maybe because this time I couldn't blame him for cheating on me, or her for taking him away from me. It was just two people, who'd found each other.

What really hurt was that he actually _had _changed. Not just because he was making movies now, but because he wasn't such a jerk, and yet he still had that little something that could give me butterflies.

I was _so_ sad. It was Christmas Eve and I was lying alone in bed, thinking about someone I'd broken up with back in June. But what else could I think about?

I wanted to go talk to someone about it. Not Claudine, when I'd told her this morning she'd tried to talk me out of doing anything. She would just do that again. I wanted someone who would listen, someone like Jez. Or just Jez. But he'd gone to bed, like everyone else had done. I rolled over countless times, thinking about Danny again.

This time last year me and him were an item. This time last year, I was lying in my bed at Mum's, missing Danny. Missing him, but knowing that in four days I'd be getting off a train and he'd run to kiss me and we'd be reunited, and I wouldn't have to miss him anymore. A lot of things were different last year. BB still had a brother. Lola's heart was clean; unbroken, yet un-mended again. Jez despised his father. Ronnie didn't know what she wanted out of life. Claudine didn't care for anybody except herself.

We'd all changed so much. I wasn't sure if it was for better, or for worse. People like Jez and Lola had been granted happiness. For BB, for me, I wasn't so sure.

***

I woke up to the sound of squealing.

I drowsily rolled over, noticing how much my head hurt.

"OMG, it's, like, Christmas!" Lola sang. I wondered where her voice was coming from. It couldn't be from her _room_, could it, which was on the third floor? But then I heard the light footsteps dancing along the corridor.

"It's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's Christmas! Yay!"

Another voice chipped in. "Hey, calm down babes, we can go downstairs when everyone else is awake."

"But it's Christmas, Jez!"

I laughed. Lola was just like a little girl.

I decided to drag myself out of bed. I put on my dressing gown and headed outside. Lola was whirling round the corridor, Jez leaning against the wall. I immediately felt self conscious of my Snoopy pyjamas; Lola was wearing a pair of black and white ones, with tiny little stars on the bottoms, which like most of Lola's clothes she looked gorgeous in.

"Sorry if she woke you up, Lauren. I couldn't stop her." Jez glanced at me apologetically.

I laughed. "Should I go get her presents?"

"No, I think she should have to wait until everyone else wakes up. God, we sound like her parents."

I laughed again. At this point, Lola skipped down the hall again towards us and hugged me.

"Hi, Lauren!"

I hugged her back, grinning. "Aren't you tired?"

"Uh-uh! Even though I hardly slept, like, at all because I was really excited because it's, like, Christmas! I cannot _believe _it's actually Christmas day, it's, like, December 24th… sorry, 5th. Well, 25th, I only said 5th because I was trying to, like, finish off the other sentence, and…"

She hadn't noticed that BB and Claudine had left their rooms and were now peering out of the two adjacent doors.

"Oh my God, Lola," said Claudine, simply. Her hair was sticking up in places and she, also, looked like she hadn't slept much.

"What? I'm just excited because it's Christmas!" Lola exclaimed, moving to lean against the wall next to the rest of us.

Jez sighed. "Well, I suppose we can get everyone else up, now."

"Yay!" said Lola. "I'll go get Stefan!"

Lola whirled round the corner and up the stairs, just as Danny came down them.

"Hey, happy Christmas!" he said.

I immediately tensed. I should definitely have applied some make-up before I left my room, got dressed, even.

"Merry Christmas," I said, trying to keep my smile casual. He drew me into a hug. It felt warm and fuzzy.

"We're going downstairs in a minute, Lola's gone to wake Stefan up," Jez told him. "God help him," he added. I laughed.

"I'll be right back; I've got to get some stuff,"

I went into my room and opened the wardrobe, a lousy place to hide presents I know but it wasn't as if anyone was going to go through them. I wondered if I should have felt bad about the presents I'd bought for everyone, which were scarves and gloves for Ronnie, Claudine and Lola, and _Zavvi_ vouchers for Jez, BB and Danny. The boys were harder to buy for, actually but I thought I'd made a good choice with the vouchers.

When I came out again, holding my bag, Lola was back, hand in hand with Stefan, and Ronnie was there also.

"Shall we head downstairs, then?" said Jez, pointing towards the huge staircase. Lola was off with the grace and speed of a gazelle, dragging a laughing Stefan with her. The rest of us followed, but at a normal space.

We got downstairs, the living room was fabulous. Someone, Jez, I presume, had hung chains of rainbow fairy lights all the way around the walls. Piles of gifts were stacked underneath the Tylers' huge Christmas tree, and along the glass coffee table a large bottle of champagne, nine champagne flutes, and several plates of crisps and nibbles were neatly stacked.

For once, even Lola was speechless.


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteen. Jez**

I didn't want to seem like I was showing off, or anything, but I think my arrangement of snacks on the coffee table and decoration of the living room was just the icing on top of the cake that was Christmas day.

"It's so _pretty_," Lola whispered.

Everyone wandered round the living room for a while, dropping presents off by the tree where I'd put mine. I saw BB sneak one of the raisins from the table. Suddenly Lola started squealing. "Can we open the presents now?"

We all laughed.

"Ok, Lola, we can open presents now," said Claudine, grinning. Lola ran the tree and started handing out packages, all wrapped in bright pink tissue paper. In the end, I received a gift voucher from Lauren, a posh watch from Claudine which was probably to show off that fact she could afford one, a stack of CDs from BB, aftershave and some kind of weird jigsaw from Danny, theatre tickets from Ronnie and a copy of 'How To Find The Perfect Man' from Lola, sorry, Lola _and Stefan_.

We stayed in the living room all morning; every so often I had to rush out to check on the turkey. Dad had left yesterday afternoon to stay with my Aunt Elisabeth, who only lived a while away but most of the family were going over there. He was planning on coming over here later, but his absence meant that I was doing all the cooking by myself, with the volunteered help of BB. It probably wasn't going to be pretty.

By nine o clock, the time we would have normally been getting up, the whole living room floor was covered in a layer of wrapping paper. Danny went off to see if Jade was awake and Lola and Stefan had gone off together to exchange gifts. Lauren and Claudine, who, randomly, seemed to be really good friends now, were talking in the living room, Ronnie was hovering round the kitchen while me and BB attempted to do the cooking.

I thought about what I'd been doing last Christmas. It was after I'd fallen out with Dad, but my room mate had gone to spend it with family and I was left alone. That was possibly my worst Christmas ever, or possibly the one in 2001 right after Mum died. This one, so far, was bordering on one of the best, if not _the_ best. I was so glad I'd brought us all here, together.

Everyone was happy and I'd done that.

At least, I'd thought everyone was happy.


	15. Chapter 15

**Fifteen. Claudine.**

Christmas at Jez's place was really, really great. A thousand times different to the way things usually were at home, where I'd get all the expensive presents I'd asked for, then be left until Mum cooked roast dinner, and we'd eat it in silence.

Here, I was hardly ever left alone, it was fabulous. Everyone came in and out of the living room, Jez and BB started cooking Christmas dinner and there was music playing and everything was just perfect.

When, for the first time in days, I could get Lauren on her own, I asked how she was feeling about Danny.

"You know, it still hurts to be honest," her voice was quiet: Ronnie was still in the room. "But I'm trying to be happy for Danny and he has her now, so…" Lauren's words sort of faded, as she stared out of the window wistfully.

"I'm sorry, babe, I wish there was something I could do," I replied. There _was_ something I could do and I _was_ doing it. I was going to break up Danny and Jade. But Lauren would try and stop me if I told her that, so I just decided not to. It was better that way.

"Its fine, Claudine. I mean what you said was right, he probably would have ended up hurting me anyway and it would never have lasted long anyway, with him in America, unless, I moved there with him or something…"

I knew what she was thinking. She'd just let herself go off into a little daydream about moving to America with Danny. She thought she could end up with a Lola-stylised happy ending. I wished I could tell her that things like that rarely happen in the real world. Where _was_ this strong, smart Lauren that I'd known at the end of last year, who didn't need Danny, didn't need any man to be happy?

The lunch bell went, at the same time as BB called, "Foods ready!"

I stood up, and waited for Lauren, who it took a little more time to get up from the sofa, probably due to her neuralgia. We walked through to the dining room, where BB and Jez were already sat down. Ronnie practically ran to take the other seat next to Jez, so I went to the other side of the table and sat between two empty seats, and Lauren took one of them. I was planning on saving the other seat next to me for Lola, I wasn't sure I wanted to have to pretend to flirt with Danny right in front of Lauren. But when Lola came in, her and Stefan went to sit between BB and Lauren, and I was left with Danny next to me, Jade on his other side.

Throughout lunch, things happened as I'd hoped, but now feared. It had got to the point where Danny had started flirting with me, not the other way round. I didn't have to try to get him to talk to me. Jade ate in silence, watching me and Danny furiously, but luckily Lauren didn't notice, at least I don't think so. She and Lola were pulling each other's crackers.

"So, you're releasing an album in March?" Danny asked me.

"Yeah, March 21st it's out in stores. I've had a great time recording it."

"Yeah? I mean, it's amazing that you've got a recording contract this quickly. I always knew you'd make it big, while we were at school, you're really talented. But, I mean, it's not even been _months_. It's great, Claudine."

I smiled at him, and moved a little closer across the table. "You're doing really well too, you know, you were great in that film in November."

"Thanks," he said, grinning. Then he seemed to remember Jade and he turned to her, and started talking. I turned away, also, to face Lauren and offered her my cracker. I spent the remainder of the meal talking to Lauren, and listening to Lola's constant twitter.

After lunch, which was by the way delicious, everyone headed over to the living room again. I started to follow the crowd, but Danny grabbed my arm and dragged me into a corner.

"Claudine, can I have a word?"


	16. Chapter 16

**Sixteen. Lola.**

After we'd had lunch, I told everyone I'd be right back and went upstairs. Then, I ran down a flight, realising I was on the fourth floor by now. I went into our room, and got my phone from inside my slipper.

I didn't have any calls, or texts from Mum. I wasn't sure but I'd thought, or maybe just hoped that there might be a smidgen of a chance that she'd wanted to talk to me, I mean, it's Christmas. Everyone's happy at Christmas, no?

I dialled my grandma's number, and waited for a while. After thirteen rings, or maybe fourteen, I didn't start counting straight away, she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Happy Christmas!" I squealed, almost wanting to hug the phone.

"Who is this?" she said. She sounded confused.

"It's me, Lola." She must have been having problems with her hearing, or something.

"Who?"

"Lola…" I paused. "You're granddaughter." I added, not wanting to have to. What was going on? Maybe she was joking or something… it was sort of a weird joke, but there were a lot of jokes I didn't really understand.

"You aren't my granddaughter."

Huh?

"I am, Nan. I mean, I've, like, been in Australia for a while but I'm home now and…"

"My granddaughter's name is Scarlett, not Laura. You are not my granddaughter. I don't know you."

I held the phone tight. I really didn't have a clue what was going on. There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Nan?" I murmured. There was a bleep and the phone went dead.

My Nan, like, the last bit of family I had left, didn't know who I was. I kneeled down on the floor, still clutching my phone.

What was going on?

I missed her. I missed her little bungalow and her cats and her constant cookie baking. Why didn't she know who I was? I was so sure I'd got the right number, and her voice had been the same. I stared at the phone, willing it to ring and Nan to start laughing and tell me it had all been a joke.

Hearing Scarlett's name, like, made me miss her too. My big sister.

I missed them all. I wanted to be with them so I could, like, tell them all about Australia and introduce them to Stefan. If they met him, they'd understand, and they wouldn't hate him anymore, they would, like, be happy for me and stuff. The phone still wasn't ringing.

"Lola?"

The voice behind me made me jump, a little. I turned to find Stefan stood in the doorway. I blinked, hoping that there was no evidence on my face that I'd been crying.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Yes, there was evidence. I saw my reflection in the mirror behind me. Smudgy glitter mascara trails ran across my cheeks, and my eyes were, like, all puffy. Stefan came across the room and knelt down at my side. His arms were around me in seconds. He slowly rocked me back and forth, as I leant my head on his chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

I managed to whisper an "Uh-uh".

"Okay."

I was crying again, I could taste the salty tears as they slid down my face. He was talking to me, whispering gently, his lips right next to my ear. I turned, looking into his gorgeous blue eyes.

I'd been, like, so stupid. Because I'd thought that anything else mattered, apart from the fact that I had him. Apart from the fact that me and Stefan had each other and nobody could get to us now, or hurt us, or tear us apart. We were going to stick together.

For, like, eternity.


	17. Chapter 17

**Seventeen. Danny**

"I think I'm gonna dump Jade."

There, that was easy. Just telling her that, just saying it was much easier than I'd thought.

"Oh?"

"Erm… yeah. I mean, I don't even like her that much and I'd rather be with…"

I couldn't say _you_, could I? But then again, she had been flirting with me all the last two days. We were in the Tylers' shoe cupboard and it was really, really hot.

"Rather be with?" said Claudine. Our bodies were almost touching, if I'd taken a step forward I would have knocked her over.

"Someone else," I opted out of my first idea. "Someone worth spending my time with."

She was so close to me now. I could feel her sweet, tangy breath on my face.

"Yeah, I get what you're saying."

Bloody hell, it was Christmas. _Why _couldn't there have been some kind of excuse for this, like mistletoe?

Her face was right in front of mine. I could see nothing oh her, apart from her eyes, which stood out fabulously in the dark. And her lips, painted with crimson, they stood out too…

I moved an inch forward. That was all it took. One inch, for our lips to bump together slightly, and that was it.

I was kissing her. I didn't try to control myself this time, I didn't try to stop. I just stayed there, wrapping my arms around her waist, holding her to me. I moved in for another heated kiss.

I ran my hands through her hair, whispering her name between moments where out lips met.

The door creaked open.


	18. Chapter 18

**Eighteen. Lauren.**

It hurt just as much, although this was the second time I'd seen this happen.

_Danny_. And _Claudine_.

This was not happening. I refuse to admit that, that Danny, with his new, gorgeous, probably rich, perfect for him girlfriend and Claudine, who yesterday had talked me away from admitting feelings for the very same guy that she was making out with, now, in Jez's shoe cupboard.

I'd actually thought she'd changed, you know. I'd thought she was past Danny, past the jealously and bitching. I'd thought we were a team now, together in hating Danny. I'd thought she had my back.

I'd thought she was my friend.

Danny turned to us, opening his mouth to speak. He seemed at loss, for words though, as we all were I think.

BB looked shocked. Jade looked mad. Claudine almost appeared to be smiling.

_How _could she do this to me? I thought she'd left the bitchy, selfish girl I'd known at the beginning of our year at Britannia High behind, replacing her with my supportive, kind, changed friend.

Well, apparently not.

Was that why she talked me out of letting Danny know about my feelings for him? Because she wanted Danny for herself? I definitely blamed myself for not knowing her, not being able to see through her.

Jade broke the silence. She stormed off, up the stairs. Danny got up and ran after her, dodging past Claudine and BB.

"It's not what it looked like!"

I almost started laughing, but it was too pathetic.

You could have cut the tension with a piece of paper, let alone a knife. BB, Claudine and I simply stood, in silence and exchanged looks. BB broke it.

"What's going on, Claudine?"

Claudine took a deep breath. I didn't want to hang around to bother listening to whatever she was going to say.

I went off up the stairs, and headed for my room. Once there, I slammed the door behind me and leant against it.

Were Danny and Claudine going to end up together, now? Because if that was going to happen, I might as well go home. Buses probably didn't run on Christmas day, did they? Well, I could leave first thing tomorrow. I'd go back home, to New Forest and everything would be normal again and I wouldn't ever have to see either of them again, ever.

The thing was, did I really want that? Did I really want to just lose Danny? It would be so easy to just have him out of my life. I'd never see his face again. But _did_ I want that?

_No._

There was a knock at my door. I didn't rush to answer it.

"Claudine, if that's you…"

"It's me." BB said. I slowly opened the door, and let him in.

"Are you ok?" he said.

I hesitantly nodded.

"Look, Lauren, babe… I think you should listen to what Claudine has to say."

I turned away from him.

"I don't _need _to listen, BB…"

"No, yes you _do_. This is really important. Claudine's _changed_, she didn't mean for things to happen like that. Don't you think it would be fair, just to let her explain?"

I thought about it. BB wasn't one to lie, and I was interested to listen to whatever Claudine had said.

So I decided just to take the chance.


	19. Chapter 19

**Nineteen. Lola**

We sat there for what felt like hours. It was so fantabulously amazing that Stefan managed to just make me forget everything that had happened before, and try to make me smile again. And it worked.

When we went back to the living room, only Jez and Ronnie were there.

"Where is, like, everyone?" I asked.

"Dunno, can't find them anywhere," Ronnie replied.

Jez moved up to make room for me and Stefan on the sofa.

"Yeah, the others went off to find Danny and Claudine, no-one had seen them since dinner. We thought they were with you," he added.

"They're not on the third floor," said Stefan.

"Weird. Maybe they're playing hide and seek or something." Jez said. I laughed.

"We could go and look for them?" Ronnie suggested, before leaping up and grabbing Jez's arm. "Come on, Jez."

He went after her, looking behind him and rolling his eyes slightly. As soon as they left the room, Stefan moved closer to me.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asked.

I smiled. "Yeah, a bit."

"We could… talk about it?"

"Erm…" I thought. "Ok. But you have to promise you won't be mad at me,"

His hand slid into mine. "Lola, I promise I won't be mad at you."

"'K." I said, turning to face him and taking his other hand. "My Mum… isn't really on holiday. She hasn't talked to me since we moved to Australia… because she's mad at me.

"When you found me before, I'd called my Nan, and…" I could hardly stumble out the words, they hurt too much. "She didn't even remember who I was."

Tears were falling, thick and fast down my cheeks. Stefan held me and I threw my arms around him gratefully, letting my tears fall onto his shirt, not trying to hold back this time. His arms were warm around my waist.

"Lola…"

I looked up at the sound of my name.

"You need to talk to your Mum."

Ok so that, like, totally wasn't the answer I'd been expecting.


	20. Chapter 20

**Twenty. Claudine.**

I told Lauren everything.

Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to be honest. She was just too easy to talk to. But what really shocked me was that she wasn't mad at me. She didn't speak for a while, after I told her.

"What?" I asked. The silence was freaking me out, slightly. A lot, actually.

"I don't know," she said, simply. "I just don't understand you, Claudine. First you want me to forget about Danny… now you've had this _crazy _plan to split him and his girlfriend up. I mean, do you want us to be together or not? What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I think I was just mad at Danny, you know, for bringing _her_ and… I don't know. Maybe I thought if he wasn't happy, then you could be."

Lauren looked at me, puzzled. "What d'you mean? I _am_ happy. I'm over the whole Danny thing now."

I almost laughed. "Lauren, you love Danny. It's pointless pretending otherwise. And I've seen you and him together, and apart, and trust me you are _so_ much better together."

Her face lit up a little. I wasn't sure if she was trying to hide it or not.

"You think so?"

"Positive," I said.

We sat in silence for a while, though the quiet wasn't so menacing now, it was bordering on comfortable.

"So what do you think I should do?"

"Lauren, Danny is probably in his room, breaking up with Jade _now_. You have to _go_, and tell him how you feel!"

"D'you really think I should?"

"Yes!" I forced a smile. I _was _doing the right thing now, I knew it.

Lauren leapt up from her bed, grabbing the little cardigan she'd been wearing. The look on her face, for once, was one of pure happiness.

"Thank you so much, Claudine."

I smiled at my friend. "No problem."

Lauren drew me into a hug, then left.

I got up, meaning to leave Lauren's room. I bumped into BB as he was coming in.

"Are you ok, Claudine?" he said.


	21. Chapter 21

**Twenty-one. Danny.**

I didn't bother going after her.

Jade had called a friend, who lived a few miles away, to come and pick her up, practically as soon as she'd seen me and Claudine together. I'd chased her up to our room, of course, but I suppose I could have put a little more effort in to make her stay.

I could've put more effort in, if I'd _wanted_ her to stay.

If I'd wanted _her_.

But I didn't and I wasn't going to try and keep her here.

So I just sat, in my room, not ready to go downstairs yet. I thought about the looks I'd get from BB and Lauren.

Oh God, what about Claudine? I couldn't face her. I wondered if she thought that that kiss actually meant anything. Did it?

I hadn't wanted this to happen. I hadn't wanted to be caught up in a big relationships kafuffle, _again_. I'd come here to see my friends, I didn't want to get turned into a jerk again. This, actually, had already happened today. Crap. What had I done?

There was a knock at the door. I wondered who it would be. Claudine? Oh no, please don't say it's Claudine.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me."

Lauren.

"Come in."

She came, and sat next to me on the bed.

"Hi."

"Hey," I replied.

"Sorry about Jade," she said.

"Yeah, me too."

There was a prickly silence.

"Look, Danny, I'm not sure if this is a good idea right now but I really have to tell you something."

"Ok," I said.

"Danny…" Lauren was looking at me with hazel eyes. "I think I might be falling in love with you."

I looked at her. How could I not have known? Everything was so clear, now. _Lauren_, Lauren who I'd chosen from the start. Lauren, my ex-lover, my best friend. Lauren, who would _always_ be there.

"I love you too."


	22. Chapter 22

**Twenty-two. Lola.**

Dialling the number was scary. My hands were actually, like, shaking and stuff, as I held the phone to my ear. It rung for a while.

"Hello?"

I was too breathless to speak. I felt a warm hand slide into my free one.

"Hello, is anyone there?"

Her voice wasn't, like, threatening or anything. It was just because of what it was: her voice.

"Scarlett?" I managed to whisper.

"Lola?"

Omg, she had recognised my voice. How weird.

"Hi!" I gushed.

"I've missed you so much!"

"Me too!"

I so wanted to start squealing and running round in circles. I was actually talking to Scarlett!

"Are you still… in Australia?" she said.

"Well, I still, like, live there. But I'm in England, at my friend Jez's house, for, like, Christmas!"

"Is he with you?" Scarlett asked.

I'd wondered when she was going to ask about Stefan.

"Yes." I answered, simply. "Where are you?"

"We're at Aunt Lily's," she said.

"Can I talk to Mum?"

Scarlett paused.

"I'll go ask. I'll be right back."

I held the phone away from my ear as I heard her go.

"Is everything ok?" Stefan whispered.

I nodded, smiling. "She's gone to get my mum." I replied.

I heard something the other end of the phone.

"Hello? Mum?" I said.

"It's still me."

Scarlett.

"She… she won't talk to you, Lola. I told her you were still… with Stefan."

I could only mutter an, "Oh."

Neither of us said anything for a while.

"Lola, while you're in England… I'd like to see you," Scarlett said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, you know, when you get back from your friends house… you could come and stay for a few days, both of you. The flat I have now is really small, but…"

"You mean you really, like, want us to come and stay with you?" I could feel a grin spread across my face.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!" Scarlett said. I think she might have been smiling. "And we could go see Nan, in hospital."

"Hospital?" I said, puzzled.

"Oh… in September she had an accident. She got amnesia, she didn't remember who she was, but she's better now… almost. But, when she forgot everything, Mum hadn't wanted to tell her about you…"

Everything seemed weirdly clear now, except I felt overcome with anger. _How_ could Mum do that to me? So, she was just going to blot me out of Nan's life? That was just, like… something you would just not do. Ever.

"I wanted to tell her about you, Lola, I really did," Scarlett said. "But it isn't too late, we still can, we'll go see her together."

I didn't have to think about it. "Ok," I said, delighted.

"So I'll give you a date and my address when I call tomorrow, yeah?" she asked.

"Yep!"

"Oh and Lola, babe?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Happy Christmas."


	23. Chapter 23

**Twenty-three. Lauren**

Danny loved me. Danny loved me. He loved me, he loved me, he loved me! Danny loved me.

Those three little words sounded so beautiful together. For the first time since… well, a long time ago, I could say them in my head and they were _actually true_. I wasn't making it up, it wasn't a dream, we were here, now, together and it was all real.

His kisses fell like raindrops on my skin. Except they were toasty warm, and softer than raindrops.

And every so often, a hand stroked the side of my face or a finger twirled a strand of my hair.

Every so often, I'd catch my breath and realise what was actually happening. At times I wanted to burst into tears, or start laughing. I felt like… like I was flying. I zooming through the clouds, just touching heaven, _we _were. We were together now.

That didn't happen when it was raining

His arms were curled around my waist. We should have probably gone downstairs or something a long time ago, but the moment was too beautiful to ruin.

This was actually it; this was all I had wished for for so long.

Nothing mattered. At all, I wasn't even myself anymore. I was a part of him, we were one.

Every cliché, every stupid song, it all seemed to suddenly make sense.

The first time we'd been together, we were stupid. We were just kids messing around, we didn't really understand. Maybe that's why Claudine so easily broke us up. But _now_? Everything had changed. Maybe it was our time apart, or the fact that we were older, or just the fact that we'd been able to see each other in this way again, maybe because after all we'd been through now we _really_ knew what love is.

We were together, and it didn't matter what had happened in the past, or in the future.

We belonged together, now.


	24. Chapter 24

**Twenty-four. Claudine**

I couldn't help feeling sort of lonely, now.

I wasn't jealous of Lauren having Danny, I was past that now. I didn't want Danny for myself, not anymore. I was just jealous of the fact that she had someone, _anyone_ in her life that really, actually cared about. I wanted to be loved; I wanted someone to care about me, someone to never want to hurt me, to protect me. I wanted someone to look at me like Stefan looked at Lola. I wanted someone to be as perfect for me as Danny was for Lauren. The closest things to friends I had in my day to day life were record producers and therapists, people who I was just piles of money to. The only signs of romance were people that I flirted with in bars.

I wanted someone to care about me. I wanted someone to need me.

All the time I'd been at Britannia High, I'd just been kidding myself. I really was _not_ the sort of girl people would fall in love with.

I should be happy, here. I'd got what I wanted, Danny and Lauren were together. It was Christmas day, and my _album_ would be on the shelves in three months, for God's sake. What was _up_ with me?

I'd almost forgotten than BB was stood right next to me.

"Claudine… is everything alright?" he asked, again.

"Oh… sorry," I blinked, and then laughed a little. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You just seemed a bit…"

Was I _that _easy to read?

"That sounded weird… it's not like your really easy to read or anything. I mean, I'm just worried about you," BB said.

W-ow. If I was Lola, I'd probably think he was psychic or something right now.

"Well thanks, but you don't have to be. I'm fine," I told him, painting on a smile to prove it.

"Cool."

There was silence for a while.

"Anyway, I'd better go downstairs," I said, turning to leave Lauren's room again and heading down the corridor.

"Erm… Claudine?"

I stopped in my tracks, but didn't turn round. "Yes?"

"I was just wondering if… you wanted to go get dinner or something while we're here. I mean just you and me. We don't have to, it was just an idea, and…"

I couldn't help letting a smile spread across my face. "Yeah, actually."

"Really?"

"Really," I assured him. I slowly turned round, to find BB was stood at the other end of the corridor, beaming.

And seriously, I almost _ran_ into his arms.


	25. Epilogue New Year

**Epilogue. Jez**

The next year, on New Years Eve everyone met up at my house. It wasn't just us there, though, there was a huge party, some of Dad's friends and a lot of mine, as well, some of them from Britannia High.

It wasn't as much as an occasion as when we'd met up last Christmas, as we'd all seen each other a lot in the last year.

Everyone was gathered in the conservatory. There was really loud music, though the area that had serviced as a dance floor wasn't half as full as it had been a few minutes ago, during a track from Claudine's album.

My head hurt a little, and it was very hot in there.

I went to find Jonas, to tell him I was going outside for some air.

Jonas. That was a funny story.

We'd bumped into each other in a supermarket aisle, a few months ago, ironically in the milkshake section. We chatted for a while, exchanged numbers and had been friends ever since, recently growing into something more. There was hope there anyway, at least. And I think he'd forgiven me for the minger incident.

I pushed open the glass doors and went out into the garden, which was refreshingly cool. I went slowly around it, and then sat down at the wooden bench. I looked at the little gold plaque on the back of it, and read the words, my finger tracing along the cold, shiny metal, like I must have done a million times before.

_Molly Tyler. 1961 – 2000  
A wonderful mother and a lovely wife_

_Rest in Peace_

I still, no matter however much else was happening in my life, really, really missed my Mum. Losing somebody, as I'd learnt, as BB had, left a hole in your life that never _really_ filled in.

"Hi,"

I hadn't notice five figures gather behind me.

"Hi," I replied, standing up.

"It's nearly midnight," said BB. One of his arms was wrapped around Claudine's waist.

I stood up, and the six of us joined hands. Lola's slid into mine; a silver engagement ring glittered on one of her fingers. I noticed Lauren's head, resting on Danny's shoulder. We all stood still and watched the purple sky. Inside I heard lots of voices, all singing together.

"_5, 4…"_

Lola squealed a little, she gripped my hand tightly. She joined in with the counting.

".._3, 2…." _We were all saying it now, just for the hell of it. Just for the excitement and the buzz and the feeling, and the fact that we were all saying it, together.

"_1!"_

Somewhere, in the distance, fireworks went off. The sky was full of sparkles. It was magic.

We were laughing, all of us together, six voices moulding somehow into one. Arms flew around me, cries of "Happy new year!" Hit my ears.

And then we all released hands, and slowly headed inside to the rest of the world.

Lola ran into Stefan's waiting arms, he caught her and whirled her around. BB and Claudine went off together, starting to move to the music playing inside. Lauren and Danny disappeared around the side of the house, wrapped in each other's arms.

I saw Ronnie, and her boyfriend Tom, who she'd met in July, waiting for me. Jonas was stood with them.

I looked behind me, just for a second, before heading inside.

A firework whirled through the sky, lighting it up, the going from scarlet to orange, liquid gold to emerald.

And then it was gone, leaving only pure sky and flickers of starlight behind it.

_Thanks for reading this anyone that did! =]_

_I'll probs be posting some more Britannia High stuff soon, after my Hustle fanfic (any Hustle fans out there? Check it out!). Thinking of doing something more Lola/Stefan best because they're my favourite characters and just, like, yeah._

_Thanks for reading, again, and I hope you enjoyed it. xD_

_MM x_


End file.
